Vancouver Canucks: 5 Late-Round Options for the 2016 NHL Entry Draft
Round 7 — G Ty Edmonds (Prince George Cougars, WHL)
Ranked #20 by NHL Central Scouting (North American goalies)
With the Canucks’ final pick in the 2016 NHL Draft, why not select a goaltender? Ty Edmonds of the Prince George Cougars was born in 1996 and is in his third year of eligibility, but it might finally be time to take a chance at him.
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Edmonds is a very quick, agile goalie who has shown some great development over the course of his minor and junior hockey career. He reacts extremely quickly, moves around the crease well and battles hard until he gets the puck under control. Back in 2014, there were already many scouts who expected him to be selected sometime in the later rounds — but Edmonds waited in vain.
So, why did he go undrafted for two years and, more importantly, why should he be selected now? The two main concerns in Edmonds’ game were his rebound control and consistency. Going into a game, you didn’t know whether he would get a 40-save shutout or six goals against on 20 shots — both had an equal chance of happening.
But, Edmonds has improved. He always has. He played on rather bad bantam and midget teams, before joining an equally bad team in Prince George in 2013. Facing a lot of shots is good to make a lot of saves, but it does not exactly make things easy for a goalie. Edmonds fought through it, improved his numbers every year, and now looks like a goaltender who could make it to the NHL one day.
After posting a .887 save percentage and a 3.85 goals-against average in his rookie campaign — good numbers already, considering the situation he was in –, Edmonds improved to a .913 save percentage with a 2.69 goals-against average so far this season, making him a top-10 goalie in the league.
Potential: NHL Fringe Starter
Draft Range: 180-undrafted